Methods of forming and utilizing rutile-type titanium oxide

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments include methods of forming rutile-type titanium oxide. A monolayer of titanium nitride may be formed. The monolayer of titanium nitride may then be oxidized at a temperature less than or equal to about 550° C. to convert it into a monolayer of rutile-type titanium oxide. Some embodiments include methods of forming capacitors that have rutile-type titanium oxide dielectric, and that have at least one electrode comprising titanium nitride. Some embodiments include thermally conductive stacks that contain titanium nitride and rutile-type titanium oxide, and some embodiments include methods of forming such stacks.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Constructions comprising rutile-type titanium oxide; and methods offorming and utilizing rutile-type titanium oxide.

BACKGROUND

Titanium oxide may exist in a rutile crystal structure or an anatasecrystal structure. The crystalline type of the titanium oxide may beestablished by the production method utilized to form the titaniumoxide. Rutile-type titanium oxide is formed by deposition of thetitanium oxide at temperatures of at least about 660° C., whileanatase-type titanium oxide typically results from deposition processesmaintained at or below temperatures of 465° C. Deposition processeshaving temperatures between 465° C. and 660° C. generally form mixturesof rutile-type titanium oxide and anatase-type titanium oxide. Somemethods have been developed which form anatase-type titanium oxide atlow deposition temperatures, and then utilize high temperature annealingto convert the anatase-type titanium oxide into rutile-type titaniumoxide.

Rutile-type titanium oxide may be preferred over anatase-type titaniumoxide in some applications because of the very high dielectric constantof the rutile-type titanium oxide (k>100). For instance, rutile-typetitanium oxide may be preferred over anatase-type titanium oxide forutilization as capacitor dielectric material of integrated circuitry(for instance, as the capacitor dielectric material utilized in dynamicrandom access memory [DRAM]). Unfortunately, the high temperaturesutilized in conventional methods of forming rutile-type titanium oxidemay be damaging to various integrated circuit components. Accordingly,it can be difficult to incorporate rutile-type titanium oxide intointegrated circuitry utilizing conventional methods of formingrutile-type titanium oxide.

For the above-discussed reasons, it would be desirable to develop newmethods for forming rutile-type titanium oxide.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart diagram of an example embodiment method forforming rutile-type titanium oxide.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart diagram illustrating a couple of exampleembodiment pathways for forming a titanium nitride monolayer suitablefor utilization in the FIG. 1 method.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of an example reactionchamber that may be utilized in some example embodiments.

FIGS. 4-9 are diagrammatic cross-sectional views of a construction shownat various process stages of an example embodiment method for formingand utilizing rutile-type titanium oxide.

FIGS. 10-12 are diagrammatic cross-sectional views of the constructionof FIGS. 4-9 shown at various process stages of an example embodimentmethod for forming a top electrode of the construction.

FIGS. 13-15 are diagrammatic cross-sectional views of the constructionof FIGS. 4-9 shown at various process stages of an alternative exampleembodiment method for forming rutile-type titanium oxide of theconstruction.

FIG. 16 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of an example DRAM unitcell incorporating rutile-type titanium oxide formed in accordance withan example embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of an example thermallyconductive TiN/TiO₂ stack incorporating rutile-type titanium oxideformed in accordance with an example embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of a semiconductorconstruction illustrating an example use for the thermally conductiveTiN/TiO₂ stack of FIG. 17.

FIG. 19 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of another semiconductorconstruction illustrating another example use for the thermallyconductive TiN/TiO₂ stack of FIG. 17.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Some embodiments include methods of forming rutile-type titanium oxideat relatively low temperatures through atomic layer deposition (ALD).FIG. 1 shows a flow-chart diagram illustrating an example process forforming rutile-type titanium oxide. An initial step 1 comprisesformation of a monolayer of titanium nitride, and a subsequent step 2comprises conversion of such monolayer into rutile-type titanium oxideby exposing the monolayer to oxidant. It is found that the titaniumnitride monolayer will convert to titanium oxide at temperatures of lessthan or equal to 550° C., which is much lower than the conventionaltemperatures utilized for forming rutile-type titanium oxide.

The monolayer of titanium nitride may be formed with any suitableprocessing. FIG. 2 shows a flow-chart diagram illustrating a couple ofexample processes for forming the monolayer of titanium nitride. Aninitial step 5 comprises formation of a halogenated titanium firstlayer. Such first layer may be formed over a surface of a substrate byexposing the substrate to a titanium halide precursor. Such precursormay have the chemical formula TiX₄, where X is selected from the groupconsisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and mixtures thereof.For instance, the precursor may have the chemical formula TiCl₄.

FIG. 2 shows two alternative pathways for converting the halogenatedtitanium first layer into the titanium nitride monolayer. One of thepathways is to simply expose the halogenated titanium first layer toammonia (NH₃) to convert the halogenated titanium first layer into thetitanium nitride monolayer. Such exposure is shown in FIG. 2 as step 6.

The other pathway comprises exposure of the halogenated titanium firstlayer to oxidant to convert the first layer into a titanium oxide(TiO_(x)) monolayer, as shown as step 8. The oxidant may be any suitableoxidant, including, for example, one or more of O₂, O₃ and water. Theoxidant may or may not be incorporated in a plasma. In a specificexample application, the oxidant may be non-plasma H₂O. The titaniumoxide monolayer formed under such conditions will typically beanatase-type titanium oxide, or a mixture of anatase-type titanium oxidewith rutile-type titanium oxide. In a subsequent step 9, the titaniumoxide monolayer is exposed to ammonia to convert such monolayer into thetitanium nitride (TiN) monolayer.

An advantage of the first pathway of FIG. 2 is that such comprises onlya single step to transform the halogenated titanium first layer into thetitanium nitride monolayer. However, a disadvantage may be that theconversion from halogenated titanium into titanium nitride may beincomplete so that some residual halogen remains in the titaniumnitride. The advantage of the second pathway is that such pathway tendsto be very good for completely converting the halogenated titanium firstlayer into a titanium nitride monolayer, but the disadvantage is thatthe second pathway utilizes two steps instead of one.

The various steps of FIGS. 1 and 2 are ALD steps, and comprise flowingprecursors into a reaction chamber at different and substantiallynon-overlapping times relative to one another to form a desiredmaterial. For instance, step 5 of FIG. 2 comprises flowing titaniumhalide (i.e., TiCl₄) into a reaction chamber to form the halogenatedtitanium first layer, and step 6 comprising flowing ammonia into thereaction chamber at a different and substantially non-overlapping timerelative to the titanium halide to convert the halogenated titaniumfirst layer into the titanium nitride monolayer. If the titanium halideand ammonium precursors were flowed into the reaction chamber at anoverlapping time with one another, the deposition process would be achemical vapor deposition (CVD) process instead of an ALD process. TheCVD process would form the titanium nitride to be thicker than a singlemonolayer, which would create complications for subsequent processing.Specifically, if the titanium nitride is significantly more than onemonolayer thick at step 1 of FIG. 1, the subsequent conversion of thetitanium nitride into titanium oxide at step 2 of FIG. 1 may lead toanatase-type titanium oxide at the low temperatures utilized in theembodiments discussed herein, and/or may lead to incomplete conversionof the titanium nitride into titanium oxide.

ALD processes occur when two precursors are in the reaction chamber atnon-overlapping times with one another so that the precursors do notinteract in gas phase with one another, but rather interact only at asubstrate surface. In some embodiments, ALD processes may be describedto comprise removal of substantially all of one precursor from within areaction chamber prior to introducing another precursor into thereaction chamber. The term “substantially all” is utilized to indicatethat an amount of precursor within the reaction chamber is reduced to alevel where gas phase reactions with subsequent precursors (or reactantgases) do not degrade the properties of a material deposited on thesubstrate. Such can, in particular aspects, indicate that all of a firstprecursor is removed from the reaction chamber prior to introducing asecond precursor, or that at least all measurable amounts of the firstprecursor are removed from the reaction chamber prior to introducing thesecond precursor into the chamber. The two precursors can then beconsidered to be present in the reaction chamber at different andsubstantially non-overlapping times relative to one another; with theterm “substantially non-overlapping times” meaning that substantiallyall of one precursor is removed from within the reaction chamber priorto introduction of the next precursor.

An example ALD apparatus 10 that may be utilized for the various stepsof FIGS. 1 and 2 is illustrated in FIG. 3. Such apparatus has an ALDreaction chamber 12 therein.

The apparatus 10 has a sidewall 14 extending around the chamber. Aninlet 16 extends through the sidewall 14 and into reaction chamber 12,and an outlet 18 also extends through the sidewall. In operation,reactants (i.e., precursors) are introduced into inlet 16 and flowedinto reaction chamber 12 (as indicated by arrow 20), and materials arepurged or otherwise exhausted from chamber 12 thorough outlet 18 (asindicated by arrow 22).

Valves 24 and 26 are shown across inlet 16 and outlet 18, and such canbe utilized to control flow of materials into and out of the chamber 12.A pump (not shown) can be provided downstream from outlet 18 to assistin exhausting materials from within reaction chamber 12.

A substrate holder 25 is provided within the reaction chamber 12, andsuch supports a substrate 28. Substrate 28 can be, for example, asemiconductor substrate, such as, for example, a monocrystalline siliconwafer. In some embodiments the substrate holder may have temperaturecontrolling equipment (not shown) associated therewith so that atemperature of the substrate may be maintained in a desired rangethrough utilization of such equipment.

The apparatus 10 is shown schematically, and it is to be understood thatother configurations can be utilized for ALD processes to accomplishnon-overlapping flow of two or more precursors into a reaction chamber.Also, it is to be understood that additional materials can be flowedinto the reaction chamber besides the precursors. For instance, an inertgas can be flowed into the reaction chamber together with precursor toassist in flowing the precursor into the reaction chamber.

In some embodiments, the apparatus 10 may be provided with coils (notshown) configured to control a temperature within chamber 12, and/or tomaintain a plasma within the chamber.

In practice, a first precursor may be introduced into chamber 12 to forma monolayer of first material across an exposed surface of substrate 28.The first precursor may be then purged from within the chamber using oneor both of inert purge gas and vacuum; and then a second precursor maybe introduced into the chamber to convert the monolayer of firstmaterial into a monolayer of second material. The second precursor maybe then purged from within the chamber. The sequences of flowing theprecursors into the chamber at different and non-overlapping timesrelative to one another may be repeated through multiple iterations toform a deposited composition to a desired thickness. In someembodiments, a sequence may use more than two precursors. Regardless,the sequence can be repeated multiple times to form a depositedcomposition to a desired thickness.

Some example methods of forming rutile-type titanium oxide, and exampleapplications for the rutile-type titanium oxide, are described withreference to FIGS. 4-19.

Referring to FIG. 4, a construction 30 comprises a first capacitorelectrode 34 over a substrate 32. Substrate 32 may comprisemonocrystalline silicon, and may be referred to as a semiconductorsubstrate, or as a portion of a semiconductor substrate. The terms“semiconductive substrate,” “semiconductor construction” and“semiconductor substrate” mean any construction comprisingsemiconductive material, including, but not limited to, bulksemiconductive materials such as a semiconductive wafer (either alone orin assemblies comprising other materials), and semiconductive materiallayers (either alone or in assemblies comprising other materials). Theterm “substrate” refers to any supporting structure, including, but notlimited to, the semiconductive substrates described above. Althoughsubstrate 32 is shown to be homogenous, the substrate may comprisenumerous layers in some embodiments. For instance, substrate 32 maycorrespond to a semiconductor substrate containing one or more layersassociated with integrated circuit fabrication. In such embodiments, thelayers may correspond to one or more of refractory metal layers, barrierlayers, diffusion layers, insulator layers, etc.

The first capacitor electrode 34 comprises an electrically conductivecomposition; and may, for example, comprise one or more of variousmetals (for instance, tungsten, titanium, etc.), metal-containingcompositions (for instance, metal silicide, metal nitride, etc.) andconductively-doped semiconductor materials (for instance,conductively-doped silicon, conductively-doped germanium, etc.).Although the first capacitor electrode is shown to be homogeneous, inother embodiments the first capacitor electrode may comprise two or morediscrete layers.

Referring next to FIG. 5, construction 30 is exposed to titanium halideprecursor 36 to form a halogenated titanium monolayer 38 over an exposedsurface of first capacitor electrode 34. The titanium halide precursormay, for example, comprise, consist essentially of, or consist of TiCl₄;and in such embodiments the halogenated titanium monolayer 38 may, forexample, comprise, consist essentially of, or consist of titanium andchlorine. The halogenated titanium monolayer 38 may be formed in an ALDreaction chamber, such as the chamber described above with reference toFIG. 3. The exposure to the titanium halide precursor may be conductedwhile a pressure within the reaction chamber is from about 0.5 Torr toabout 5 Torr; and while construction 30 is at a temperature below about550° C.

The halogenated titanium monolayer may be utilized to form titaniumnitride through either of the two pathways described above withreference to FIG. 2. FIG. 6 illustrates a process utilizing the pathwaywhere the halogenated titanium monolayer is exposed to ammonia, andFIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate a process utilizing the pathway where thehalogenated titanium monolayer is first converted to titanium oxide, andthen exposed to ammonia. The halogenated titanium monolayer 38 may bereferred to as a first layer to distinguish it from other layers thatare formed subsequently.

Referring to FIG. 6, construction 30 is exposed to ammonia 40. Suchexposure converts halogenated titanium monolayer 38 (FIG. 5) into atitanium nitride monolayer 42. In some embodiments, monolayer 42consists essentially of, or consists of titanium nitride. In otherembodiments, there may be some detectable residual halogen remaining inthe titanium nitride monolayer 42. The exposure to the ammonia 40 isconducted at a separate and non-overlapping time relative to theexposure to the titanium halide precursor 36 (FIG. 5), and may beconducted utilizing the ALD reaction chamber described above withreference to FIG. 3. The exposure to the ammonia may be conducted whilea pressure within the reaction chamber is from about 0.5 Torr to about 5Torr; and while construction 30 is at a temperature below about 550° C.

Referring to FIG. 7, construction 30 is exposed to oxidant 44 to converttitanium nitride monolayer 42 into rutile-type titanium oxide monolayer46. The exposure to the oxidant 44 is conducted at a separate andnon-overlapping time relative to the exposure to the ammonia 40 (FIG.6), and may be conducted utilizing the ALD reaction chamber describedabove with reference to FIG. 3. The oxidant may comprise one or more ofwater, O₂ and O₃. In some embodiments, the oxidant may comprise O₂plasma. The exposure to the oxidant may be conducted while a pressurewithin the reaction chamber is from about 0.5 Torr to about 5 Torr; andwhile construction 30 is at a temperature below about 550° C. (such as,for example, a temperature of from about 300° C. to about 550° C.).

In some embodiments, all of the titanium oxide within monolayer 46 is inrutile form, or least rutile form is the only detectable form withinsuch titanium oxide. Accordingly, the titanium oxide within monolayer 46consists of rutile-type titanium oxide. In some embodiments, monolayer46 may consist essentially of, or consist of titanium oxide. In suchembodiments, any halogen present in titanium nitride layer 42 (FIG. 6)is removed during the conversion of the titanium nitride layer into thetitanium oxide layer 46. In other embodiments, there may be detectableresidual halogen remaining within titanium oxide layer 46.

Each of the above-described steps of FIGS. 5-7 may be conducted while atemperature of construction 30 remains below about 550° C. Thus, therutile-type titanium oxide layer 46 may be formed without exposure ofconstruction 30 to the problematic high temperatures of prior artprocesses of forming rutile-type titanium oxide.

Referring to FIG. 8, construction 30 is shown after the steps of FIGS.5-7 have been repeated through multiple iterations to form multipletitanium oxide monolayers on top of one another, and to thereby create atitanium oxide mass 48 over first electrode 34. The titanium oxide ofmass 48 may consist of rutile-type titanium oxide. The mass 48 may haveany desired thickness, and in some embodiments may have a thicknesswithin a range of from 10 Å about 100 Å. The mass 48 is electricallyinsulative, and accordingly may be referred to as a dielectric mass.

Referring to FIG. 9, a second capacitor electrode 50 is formed over anddirectly against the dielectric mass 48. The second capacitor electrodemay comprise any suitable composition; and may, for example, compriseone or more of various metals (for instance, tungsten, titanium, etc.),metal-containing compositions (for instance, metal silicide, metalnitride, etc.) and conductively-doped semiconductor materials (forinstance, conductively-doped silicon, conductively-doped germanium,etc.). Although the second capacitor electrode is shown to behomogeneous, in other embodiments the second capacitor electrode maycomprise two or more discrete layers.

Second capacitor electrode 50 is capacitively connected with firstcapacitor electrode 34 through the dielectric mass 48. Accordingly, thefirst and second capacitor electrodes 34 and 50, together with thedielectric mass 48, form a capacitor 52. The dielectric mass 48 canconsist of rutile-type titanium oxide, and thus capacitor 52 can havethe advantages associated with the high dielectric constant ofrutile-type titanium oxide. Further, the rutile-type titanium oxide ofmass 48 may be formed with the above-discussed ALD methodology utilizingrelatively low temperature processing (i.e. the processing attemperatures of less than or equal to about 550° C.). Accordingly, therutile-type titanium oxide may be formed without exposing construction30 to the problematic high temperature processing utilized by prior artmethods of forming rutile-type titanium oxide.

Although second capacitor electrode 50 may comprise any suitablecomposition, in some embodiments it may be advantageous for electrode 50to comprise, consist essentially of, or consist of titanium nitride.Such titanium nitride may be formed utilizing the same chamber as isutilized for forming titanium oxide mass 48, utilizing the same ALDprecursors as are utilized during formation of titanium nitride layer42, which can simplify processing and increase throughput.

FIG. 10 shows construction 30 at a processing stage subsequent to thatof FIG. 8, and specifically shows titanium halide precursor 36 beutilized to form a halogenated titanium monolayer 54 over mass 48.

FIG. 11 shows construction 30 exposed to ammonia 40 to convert layer 54into a titanium nitride layer 56. The processing of FIGS. 10 and 11 maybe repeated to form an electrically conductive mass containing multipleindividual monolayers of titanium nitride. Such electrically conductivemass may be formed to any desired thickness. FIG. 12 shows construction30 at a processing stage after multiple iterations of the processing ofFIGS. 10 and 11, and shows the second capacitor electrode 50corresponding to a mass 58 of titanium nitride. The shown processing ofFIGS. 10 and 11 is ALD methodology, and thus comprises exposingconstruction 30 to the titanium halide precursor 36 at a separate andnon-overlapping time relative to the ammonia 40. In other embodiments,the processing utilized to form the top electrode may be CVD processing,and thus may comprise exposing construction 30 to a gaseous mixture ofthe titanium halide precursor and the ammonia.

In some embodiments the first electrode 32 may comprise, consistessentially of, or consist of titanium nitride formed from titaniumhalide precursor and ammonia with processing similar to that discussedabove with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12 for fabrication of the secondcapacitor electrode 50. Thus, the first capacitor electrode may beformed in a same reaction chamber as the dielectric mass 48 utilizingALD or CVD processing. However, there may be some complications informing the first capacitor electrode due to the first capacitorelectrode often being patterned differently than the capacitordielectric and the second capacitor electrode (as discussed in moredetail below with reference to FIG. 16).

As discussed previously, the halogenated titanium monolayer 38 of FIG. 5may be utilized to form titanium nitride through either of the twopathways described above with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 6 illustrated aprocess utilizing the pathway where the halogenated titanium monolayeris exposed to ammonia, and FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate a processutilizing the pathway where the halogenated titanium monolayer is firstconverted to titanium oxide, and then exposed to ammonia.

Referring to FIG. 13, construction 10 is illustrated at processing stagesubsequent to that of FIG. 5, and specifically at a stage where thehalogenated titanium monolayer 38 (FIG. 5) is exposed to oxidant 60 toconvert it into a titanium oxide monolayer 62. The oxidant 60 may be thesame as the oxidant utilized to convert titanium nitride intorutile-type titanium oxide, or may be different. In some embodiments,oxidant 60 comprises, consists essentially of, or consists of water.

The exposure to the oxidant 60 is conducted at a separate andnon-overlapping time relative to the exposure to the titanium halideprecursor 36 (FIG. 5), and may be conducted utilizing the ALD reactionchamber described above with reference to FIG. 3. The exposure to theoxidant 60 may be conducted while a pressure within the reaction chamberis from about 0.5 Torr to about 5 Torr; and while construction 30 is ata temperature below about 550° C.

Referring to FIG. 14, construction 30 is exposed to ammonia 40. Suchexposure converts titanium oxide monolayer 62 (FIG. 5) into a titaniumnitride monolayer 64. The exposure to the ammonia 40 is conducted at aseparate and non-overlapping time relative to the exposure to theoxidant 60 (FIG. 13), and may be conducted utilizing the ALD reactionchamber described above with reference to FIG. 3. The exposure to theammonia may be conducted while a pressure within the reaction chamber isfrom about 0.5 Torr to about 5 Torr; and while construction 30 is at atemperature below about 550° C.

In some embodiments, monolayer 64 consists essentially of, or consistsof titanium nitride.

Referring to FIG. 15, construction 30 is exposed to oxidant 44 toconvert titanium nitride monolayer 64 into rutile-type titanium oxidemonolayer 66. The exposure to the oxidant 44 is conducted at a separateand non-overlapping time relative to the exposure to the ammonia 40(FIG. 14), and may be conducted utilizing the ALD reaction chamberdescribed above with reference to FIG. 3. The oxidant may comprise oneor more of water, O₂ and O₃. In some embodiments, the oxidant maycomprise O₂ plasma. The exposure to the oxidant may be conducted while apressure within the reaction chamber is from about 0.5 Torr to about 5Torr; and while construction 30 is at a temperature below about 550° C.(such as, for example, a temperature of from about 300° C. to about 550°C.).

In some embodiments, all of the titanium oxide within monolayer 66 is inrutile form, or least rutile form is the only detectable form withinsuch titanium oxide. Accordingly, the titanium oxide within monolayer 66consists of rutile-type titanium oxide.

The titanium oxide monolayers 62 and 66 may be referred to as first andsecond titanium oxide monolayers to distinguish them from one another.It may seem counterintuitive to form titanium oxide (layer 62), and thenconvert it to titanium nitride (layer 64), only to reform titanium oxide(layer 66) from the titanium nitride. However, as discussed above, suchmay be an efficient process for forming rutile-type titanium oxidehaving little, if any, detectable halogen therein.

The processing of FIGS. 13-15 may be repeated through multipleiterations to form multiple titanium oxide monolayers on top of oneanother, and to thereby create a titanium oxide mass having a desiredthickness over first electrode 34 (analogously to the processingdiscussed above with reference to FIG. 8). A top capacitor electrode maythen be formed over such mass to form a capacitor analogous to thecapacitor 52 discussed above with reference to FIG. 9.

The capacitors formed by the embodiments of FIGS. 1-15 may beincorporated into integrated circuitry. For instance, FIG. 16 shows aconstruction 70 comprising a DRAM unit cell that incorporates acapacitor formed in accordance with the embodiments discussed above.Similar numbering will be used to describe the construction 70 as isused above, where appropriate.

Construction 70 comprises a base 72. Such base may, for example,comprise, consist essentially of, or consist of monocrystalline siliconlightly doped with appropriate background dopant.

A transistor 74 is supported by base 72. Such transistor comprises agate stack 76 over base 72, and comprises source/drain regions 78extending into base 72. The gate stack includes a gate dielectric 80, anelectrically conductive material 82, and an electrically insulative cap84. The gate dielectric 80, electrically conductive material 82, andelectrically insulative cap 84 may comprise any suitable materials. Thesource/drain regions 78 are shown to be dopant implant regions extendinginto base 72, and may comprise any suitable dopants.

Sidewall spacers 86 are along sidewalls of the gate stack 76, and maycomprise any suitable electrically insulative materials.

An isolation region 88 extends into base 72 adjacent one of thesource/drain regions 78. Such isolation region may be utilized toelectrically isolate transistor 74 from other circuitry (not shown) andmay comprise any suitable electrically insulative materials.

One of the source/drain regions 78 is shown to be connected to a bitline 90. The other of the source/drain regions 78 is shown to beelectrically connected through an electrically conductive pedestal 92 toa capacitor 52. The electrically conductive pedestal may comprise anysuitable electrically conductive materials, and may be omitted in someembodiments.

The capacitor 52 comprises the first capacitor electrode 34, dielectricmass 48 and second capacitor electrode 50 discussed above with referenceto FIG. 9 (in other embodiments, the capacitor may comprise thedielectric mass 66 discussed above with reference to FIG. 15). The firstcapacitor electrode 34 is shown to be container-shaped. The dielectricmass 48 and second capacitor 50 are shown to extend over and within thecontainer shape of the first capacitor electrode. The dielectric mass 48and second electrode 50 have the same pattern as one another, and thusit may be advantageous to form the dielectric mass 48 and secondelectrode 50 in a common chamber in an uninterrupted process (i.e.,without removing construction 70 from the chamber from a time that thefabrication of the dielectric mass is started until a time that thefabrication of the second electrode has completed). In contrast, thefirst electrode 34 is patterned differently than the dielectric mass 48,and thus it would be difficult to form first electrode 34 and mass 48 ina common chamber in an uninterrupted process.

An electrically insulative material 94 is provided over transistor 74and along outer sides of first capacitor electrode 34. The insulativematerial 94 may electrically isolate various of the shown circuitcomponents of construction 70 from other circuit components (not shown).Material 94 may comprise any suitable electrically insulative materials.

The transistor 76 and capacitor 52 may be considered to be togethercomprised by a DRAM unit cell. In some embodiments, a large number ofsuch unit cells may be simultaneously fabricated across a semiconductorsubstrate to form a DRAM array.

The rutile-type titanium oxide formed by the embodiments of FIGS. 1-15may have any of numerous applications besides applications as capacitordielectric. For instance, the rutile-type titanium oxide may be utilizedas gate dielectric material of transistor devices.

Another application for the various materials formed by the processingof FIGS. 1-15 is described with reference to FIGS. 17-19.

Referring to FIG. 17, a construction 100 is shown to comprise aplurality of alternating regions 102 and 104. The regions 102 mayconsist of, or consist essentially of, rutile-type titanium oxide formedin accordance with one or more of the ALD processes described above withreference to FIGS. 1-9 and 13-15; and the regions 104 may consist of, orconsist essentially of titanium nitride. Such titanium nitride may beformed in accordance with one or more of the ALD processes of FIG. 2 andFIGS. 10-12; and/or may be formed by a CVD process.

The regions 102 and 104 may be formed to any suitable thicknesses. Insome embodiments, each of the regions 102 and 104 may be at least about50 Å thick. Some of the regions may be thicker than others, or all ofthe regions may be about the same thickness as one another (as shown).There may be any suitable number of regions 102 and 104. In someembodiments, there may be a single region 102 and a single region 104.In other embodiments, there may be two or more regions 102, and two ormore regions 104.

The construction 100 may be thermally conductive, and may be utilizedfor transporting thermal energy relative to integrated circuitry. FIGS.18 and 19 illustrate example applications for construction 100.

Referring to FIG. 18, a semiconductor substrate 110 is shown supportinga plurality of integrated circuit components 112, 114 and 116. Theintegrated circuit components may correspond to, for example, transistorgates, non-volatile memory, DRAM unit cells, wiring, etc. Construction100 is provided over the semiconductor substrate and proximate theintegrated circuit component 116, and may be utilized for conductingthermal energy (i.e., heat) to or from such component. Although only oneconstruction 100 is illustrated, in other embodiments multipleconstructions can be provided to transport thermal energy to or frommultiple integrated circuit components.

Referring to FIG. 19, a semiconductor die 120 is shown to comprise afront side surface 122 and a back side surface 124. Typically,integrated circuitry (not shown) would be associated with the front sidesurface. Construction 100 is shown to be provided against the back sidesurface 124, and utilized for conducting heat away from the die (withthe heat being diagrammatically illustrated with arrows 130). Thevarious structures shown in FIG. 19 are not to scale, and typicallyconstruction 100 would be much smaller in relation to die 120 than isshown.

In some embodiments construction 100 could be provided against the frontside surface 122 of the die in addition to, or alternatively to,providing construction 100 against the back side of the die. In yetother embodiments, multiple constructions 100 could be provided, andsuch constructions could be against the front side surfaces and/or backside surfaces of the die.

The embodiments discussed above with reference to FIGS. 1-19 may beutilized in electronic systems, such as, for example, computers, cars,airplanes, clocks, cellular phones, etc.

In compliance with the statute, the subject matter disclosed herein hasbeen described in language more or less specific as to structural andmethodical features. It is to be understood, however, that the claimsare not limited to the specific features shown and described, since themeans herein disclosed comprise example embodiments. The claims are thusto be afforded full scope as literally worded, and to be appropriatelyinterpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A method of forming rutile-type titanium oxide, comprising:ALD formation of a monolayer of titanium nitride; oxidation of themonolayer of titanium nitride at a temperature less than or equal toabout 550° C. to convert the monolayer of titanium nitride into amonolayer containing titanium oxide, and in which the titanium oxideconsists of rutile-type titanium oxide; and wherein the formation of themonolayer of titanium nitride comprises: utilization of titanium halideprecursor to form a halogenated titanium first layer; oxidation of thehalogenated titanium first layer to form a first titanium oxide; andutilization of NH₃ to convert the first titanium oxide into the titaniumnitride.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the rutile-type titanium oxideis formed over a semiconductor substrate.
 3. The method of claim 2wherein the rutile-type titanium oxide is incorporated into a capacitoras capacitor dielectric material.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein thecapacitor is incorporated into a DRAM unit cell.
 5. A method of forminga capacitor, comprising: utilization of at least one iteration of an ALDsequence to form rutile-type titanium oxide over a first capacitorelectrode; the ALD sequence comprising (1) ALD formation of a monolayerof titanium nitride over the first capacitor electrode; and (2)oxidation of the monolayer of titanium nitride at a temperature lessthan or equal to about 550° C. to convert the monolayer of titaniumnitride into a monolayer in which the titanium oxide consists ofrutile-type titanium oxide; after said at least one iteration of the ALDsequence, forming a second capacitor electrode over the rutile-typetitanium oxide; the second capacitor electrode comprising titaniumnitride directly against the rutile-type titanium oxide; the titaniumnitride being formed in a same reaction chamber as the rutile-typetitanium oxide; the second capacitor electrode being capacitivelycoupled with the first capacitor electrode through the rutile-typetitanium oxide; and wherein the formation of the monolayer of titaniumnitride comprises a reaction sequence that includes sequentialutilization of titanium halide precursor, oxidant, and NH₃ in the listedorder.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the oxidant comprises water. 7.The method of claim 5 wherein the oxidant consists of water.
 8. Themethod of claim 5 wherein the titanium halide precursor consists ofTiCl₄.
 9. A method of forming a stack containing a titanium nitrideregion directly against a titanium oxide region, comprising: placing asubstrate in a reaction chamber; forming the titanium nitride regionwith an ALD sequence that includes sequential and substantiallynon-overlapping provision of titanium halide precursor and NH₃ withinthe chamber; forming the titanium oxide region with an ALD sequence thatincludes sequential and substantially non-overlapping provision oftitanium halide precursor, NH₃, and oxidant within the chamber; thetitanium oxide within the titanium oxide region consisting ofrutile-type titanium oxide; and wherein the oxidant utilized to form thetitanium oxide region is a second oxidant, and wherein the ALD sequenceutilized for the formation of the titanium nitride region includes thefollowing sequence of non-overlapping steps in the following order:provision of titanium halide precursor within the chamber; provision ofa first oxidant within the chamber; and provision of NH₃ within thechamber.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the first and second oxidantsare a same composition as one another.
 11. The method of claim 9 whereinthe first and second oxidants are different in composition relative toone another.
 12. The method of claim 9 wherein the first oxidantcomprises water.